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02/10/2011 05:37:13 AM · #1 |
This is not a discussion about one of my favourite photographers.
The question is, what is 'point and shoot'? Is it a class of camera, or is it a modus operandi, or is it a state of mind?
The term 'point and shoot' is often used dismissively and even derisively in forum threads here. A back-up camera for emergencies, or for Aunt Maud who only wants some holiday snaps anyway, and isn't a real photographer.
I have seen this camera described as 'point and shoot', presumably because it has a fixed lens. Yet it offers, and even insists on, a level of tactile involvement and photographic intuition that's been suppressed in digital photography's evolution.
This photographer has taken many beautiful, technically and artistically demanding pictures, like this, with unfashionably simple cameras. [There is an antipole to this apparent contradiction, abundantly demonstrated, but in the interests of good manners let's draw a veil over that.}
There are other photographers here who have all the lenses, the big body grip, and so forth, and yet who do admit to shooting in the P mode most of the time. And making beautiful pictures doing so, in quite a few cases.
My own digital camera is an old-fashioned, quasi-analogue thing, albeit with a truly beautiful lens that I almost never remove. Does that make it a point and shoot? I don't mind if it does, because every act of photography is ultimately one of point and shoot, isn't it?
I suppose my question is whether you think the important controls are on the camera at all. Every lens is a fixed lens when it's on the camera.
Message edited by author 2011-02-10 05:39:58. |
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02/10/2011 06:03:54 AM · #2 |
A P&S camera to me is a camera that mostly only allows for automatic shooting - like a cellphone or a small pocket camera.
Other than that; my opinion is that P&S is a mode (like "P" of the green automode on DSLR's), not a camera. My Leica camera for instance does not allow for any P&S modes.
I often shoot my Canon camera in P&S mode. But for studio shoots, it is of course only on "M".
Just my opinion. :)
Message edited by author 2011-02-10 06:04:34. |
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02/10/2011 06:53:47 AM · #3 |
Controls are pointless without direction. Vision is the driver, the camera the car, and the photo is the merging of the two, the race one drives. One may have the fastest car and still be inept, while the best driver will always come away with a race that is more refined, a closer glimpse of perfection.
Some people prefer tight precision in their driving that is detailed and careful, based upon technical details (myself included), and some prefer a looser hand, one focused on fluidity and grace. Both approaches are valid, neither inherently better. I find myself embracing and loving the other side more these days, but I'm still rooted in my habits. |
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02/10/2011 06:56:14 AM · #4 |
Originally posted by ubique:
I suppose my question is whether you think the important controls are on the camera at all. Every lens is a fixed lens when it's on the camera. |
I definitely do have a different mindset when it comes to using my 30d vs my Droid. I have been enjoying my Droid lately for the fact that without all the extra technical aspects of my 30d and the various settings, lenses, flashes, modifiers, etc. I have been forced more into a just "point and shoot" mentality. I don't think so much of how to get a picture that I want to create and instead shoot the picture that I am seeing. There is still thought and creativity that goes into it, but alot of technical variables that have been built into my brain and method on what I can do to create a shot are set aside so that I can wrestle better with what I am pointing at and what I am shooting.
On a side note, I led a funeral a couple of months back for a member of our congregation. We went to the viewing and they had a slide show of pics over the years of this woman and her family. I remember having several thoughts. One was how bad these images would score at DPC. Composition, color, lighting - all were were just wretched for a good score here. That quickly faded away to the awesomeness that these images were portraying. Captured images of family, life and living. And then a wave of realization came over me ( a serious bummer moment) that I do not have many of these types of images of my family. I have some really cool captures and portraits of my wife and kids that are composed very well and have a cool theme or editing process. But while they may capture a small slice of the character of my family, they have not captured the life of my family or my family truly living. I need to do more pointing and shooting with the purpose of capturing our lives and us living. The Droid helps me capture moments of life since I am carrying that around with me all the time. The 30D - not so much. Are they a bit noisy, the colors bad, the lighting unfixable? Yup. But those are the images I want to have shown at my funeral. Plus my Tooth Fairy. The Tooth Fairy image I want blown up huge and hung behind my casket. ;) |
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02/10/2011 08:25:42 AM · #5 |
I started here with a high-end (at the time) point-and-shoot -- the Olympus C-7000. For about a year, when such things were important to me, I managed several high scoring shots, including all five images on my front page and my first and last ribbon. It got to the point where I thought I needed a DSLR -- a natural next step. Or maybe peer pressure. I bought an Olympus E-520. Good enough as DSLR's go, but loud and bulky and, for that matter, very limiting. I was headed in the wrong direction.
Not long after, I read about the Sigma compacts with the very film-like Foveon sensor. The sensor is actually larger than the one on my E-520, but the camera fits nicely in a large pocket. This was a good compromise. The fixed lenses (28mm or 41mm eq. depending on the camera) are tack sharp and deliver beautiful images. The Sigma purists would never call these point-and-shoots, but the concept is the same.
Frugality figures into this equation too. A thousand dollar camera body that needs a thousand dollar (first!) lens just isn't in my regular budget. And as I seem occasionally drawn to bad neighborhoods to take pictures, well...
I laugh at the guys now that I see weighed down with priceless gear. But they probably laugh at me too.
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02/10/2011 08:25:46 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by timfythetoo:
The Tooth Fairy image I want blown up huge and hung behind my casket. ;) |
I almost said I'd be honored to be there, but of course that would be insensitive and in any case I'm highly likely to predecease you! And if I do, I will make every effort to attend your funeral anyway, as a specter of some kind. A sort of double-posthumous tribute to you, with apologies to Don. |
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02/10/2011 09:11:46 AM · #7 |
As far as technique goes, you can point & shoot with the most expensive gear and create well thought out and composed masterpieces with a phone-cam. I consider a point & shoot to simply be a description of a class of cameras. Lower end consumer oriented cameras. I don't even consider my Powershot S5 IS to be a P&S. I call it an advanced compact. It's probably on the edge of the definition. I also picked up a Powershot G11 a couple of weeks back. In spite of a similar form factor, this is NOT a P&S in any way.
We've had a couple of Point and shoot side challenges, and I took the point to be using these low end cameras to produce high end (or at least middling) results. Others viewed it as more of a daily life snapshot topic. Both ideas are valid approaches but very different.
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